Ronda Rousey to Star in Remake of Patrick Swayze Classic ‘Road House’

Now that Ronda Rousey has officially dominated the UFC, she’s ready to put Hollywood in a submission hold next. The actress previously set up a biopic at Paramount that she also plans on starring in, and now comes word that she’s ready to take over a classic action movie. Rousey will reportedly star in a gender-swapped Road House remake where she’d take over for the late Patrick Swayze.

Variety reports that Rousey will star in an updated version of the film for MGM, which is currently meeting with writers to develop the project. A potential remake has been bouncing around for years, with Rob Cohen (The Fast and the Furious) attached to direct back in 2013 (he’s not believed to be involved in Rousey’s version).

Normally we wouldn’t think we’d ever want a new version of Road House — as a camp classic the original could never be topped — but casting Rousey in the role of the ass-kicking bouncer with a mysterious past (and a degree in philosophy) is a stroke of genius. The main critique against Rousey at this early stage of her acting career is that, well, she’s not a very good actress, but a Road House remake could embrace that. There’s nothing prestigious about the first film, which includes lines like, “I want you to be nice until it’s time to not be nice.” Rousey could be wooden as the new Dalton and yet the film could still completely work.

It’s not the first time MGM has tried to milk the Road House franchise. A sequel (subtitled Last Call) was released straight-to-DVD back in 2006, which followed Patrick Swayze’s character’s son. It was horrible, and not even in a good way.

Rousey has one more UFC fight this year before taking a break to focus on acting, starting with the Mark Wahlberg film Mile 22 and Road House set to start filming later that year. Some of our best action stars started out as stilted sports stars (see: Schwarzenegger, Arnold), so it’s not unlikely to think that Rousey could become a big star.